Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A. McLaughlins Appeal1
In October 2005, Timothy McLaughlin executed a
$325,000 adjustable rate note in favor of CitiMortgage,
secured by a mortgage on his home. McLaughlin fell behind
on his mortgage payments due to an error on CitiMortgages
part. In 2010, CitiMortgage referred McLaughlins account
to PHS. PHS sent him a letter (the Letter) dated June 7,
2010, that stated that [t]he amount of the debt as of
05/18/2010 was $365,488.40. App. 73. This included two
line items relevant here: $650 in Attorneys Fees and $550
for Costs of Suit and Title Search. App. 54-55, 73-74.
McLaughlin asserts, among other things, that these fees and
costs had not actually been incurred as of the date stated in
the Letter.
Rather than seek verification of the debt from PHS,
McLaughlin filed a putative class action complaint alleging
that PHS violated several sections of the FDCPA by, among
other things,2 falsely representing that PHS had performed
legal services on or before May 18, 2010. The District Court
dismissed the complaint without prejudice, holding that
McLaughlin could not bring suit challenging the information
contained in the Letter without having first disputed the
validity of the debt pursuant to the FDCPAs validation
procedure.3
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